Interdistrict Transfers, Latino/White School Segregation, and Institutional Racism in a Small California Town

Abstract

This article examines how the interdistrict transfer of White students from a majority-Latino school to a majority-White school increased school segregation in a small California town. The article argues that White parents' decisions to transfer their children, coupled with the sending school district's decision to allow the transfers, constituted institutional racism, as these practices further segregated Latino/a students in a high-poverty school. Qualitative data reveal that many of the transfer families were prejudiced toward Latino/a children and families, and ethnographic data show how local race relations, historical events, and the relationship between the school and the district contributed to segregation.

Inter-District School Choice: Transfer Policy and Practice in a Fragmented Metropolitan Region

“…Assigning culpability to both districts involved, Prins concludes that both policy and implementation promoted discrimination by allowing White students to transfer across districts out of a high-poverty, majority Latino school, while Latino/a students remained in that segregated school. She attributes this institutional racism to the reluctance of White parents to send their children to a majority Latino school and the unwillingness of school administrators to actively prevent segregating mobility (Prins, 2007).…”

“…Prins (2007) focused mainly on the increase in segregation of Latino and White students as a result of mobility across district boundaries in one rural region of the state. Prins' findings reiterate the conclusion found in other studies that parents participating in open enrollment tend to base choices on class and race of students in a school rather than academic performance (Holme & Richards, 2009, citing Fossey, 1994Schneider & Buckley, 2002).…”

Spiral of Decline or “Beacon of Hope:” Stories of School Choice in a Dual Language School.

“…Segregation is highest in the West where the proportion of Latina/o students in segregated minority schools increased from 12% in the 1960s to 43% in 2009 (Orfield et al, 2012). Prins (2007) noted that despite Latina/o's important work to pave the way for the Brown v. Board of Education legislation (e.g., Mendez v. Westminster School District), desegregation remains characterized as a 'Black/White' issue. For example, in Keyes v. School District No.…”

“…Many contemporary school choice policies appear to exacerbate existing patterns of segregation (e.g. Bifulco, Ladd, & Ross, 2009;Cobb & Glass, 2009;Frankenberg, Siegel-Hawley, & Wang, 2010;Garcia, 2008aGarcia, , 2008bPrins, 2007;Wells, Warner, & Grzesikowski, 2013). So far only 'controlled' school choice policies seem to work against segregation.…”

“…Yet parents, White and Latina/o, who choose to send their children to these schools, may do so in appreciation of non-academic criteria (Kimelberg & Billigham, 2013). While research on how parents chose schools for their children examines the reasons parents transferred from 'declining' district schools (e.g., Prins, 2007) and why they chose more thriving magnet schools (e.g., Beal & Hendry, 2012), less is known about the reasons White and Latina/o parents remain or choose to attend segregated and low performing schools. This case study explores parental choice by examining White and Latina/o parents' perceptions of Martinez Elementary, a segregated school in decline by conventional indicators (e.g., beginning with the implementation of school choice policies in 1995, Martinez Elementary experienced a decade of increasing Latina/o and low-income student attendance and decreasing statewide standardized test scores).…”